The Bombay high court granted Rhea Chakraborty bail today (7th October) in the drugs case in which she had been arrested on 8th September. The actress will, in all probability, be released from the Byculla women’s jail by this evening. Yesterday, the special Narcotic Drugs Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) court had once again rejected the bail applications of Rhea and her brother, Showik, and had extended their custody till October 20. Showik was also arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) last month in the same drugs case related to the death of Rhea’s boyfriend, actor Sushant Singh Rajput. Justice Sarang V. Kotwal today granted bail to Rhea and to two others, Sushant’s house manager, Samuel Miranda, and his cook, Dipesh Sawant. The judge did not accept the NCB’s argument that giving money for supplying drugs to Sushant Singh Rajput would attract Section 27A which is usually invoked for ‘financing’ drug deals. He remarked, “It is highly disproportionate and extremely unreasonable that the person who consumed drugs (Sushant) would have got one year in jail… or got immunity from trial, but (one) who gives money, be it a friend or a relative, for the drug faces the prospect of … 20 years in jail.”
Rhea will have to mark her presence at the police station for 10 days after her release, and will have to deposit her passport. She will not be allowed to travel abroad without court permission. If she has to leave the limits of Greater Bombay, she will have to inform the investigating officer. She will have to furnish a bail bond of Rs. 1 lakh. She will also have to visit the NCB office once a month for an hour for the next six months. Rhea will not be allowed to meet any of the witnesses in the drugs case.